Crawley Town 1 Reading 3: match report

Read a full match report of the FA Cup third-round game between Crawley Town
and Reading at Broadfield Stadium on Saturday Jan 5, 2013.

On target: Adam Le Fondre, the Reading striker, celebrates scoring from the spot in his side's drubbing of Crawley TownPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Arindam Rej, Broadfield Stadium

10:00PM GMT 05 Jan 2013

Crawley Town have become synonymous with memorable FA Cup runs and, when they shocked Reading with a goal after just 14 seconds, the visitors would have feared the worst. Instead, the Premier League side recovered and, incredibly, sections of the Crawley support turned on their manager Richie Barker.

The League One club had reached the fifth round in the previous two seasons - and defeated five Championship teams over the past two years in FA Cup and League Cup matches - and perhaps that history is why they started chanting at their manager to “sort it out".

Barker was, rightly, unimpressed. “You can’t educate some people,” said the Crawley manager. “One day when I’ve gone, people will realise how well I did. Some people’s expectations are ridiculous.”

Brian McDermott, the Reading manager, supported him by saying: “People have to remember where they have come from. Richie Barker is a very good manager.”

Crawley’s performance was not worthy of criticism, but there appeared no chance of an upset once Reading secured a two-goal lead early in the second half with Adam Le Fondre scoring twice. Reading had taken advantage of an open game with their higher-quality probing, passing and finishing.

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The mood had been different earlier when Crawley made a high-tempo, dominant start against Reading, who made seven changes but were still full of Premier League experience. A mistake by Reading defender Ian Harte, who chested the ball out to Nicky Adams, allowed the midfielder to then cut inside from the right and power in a 25-yard strike.

Reading finally showed some class during their first spell of pressure, leading to a 13th-minute goal, as Garath McCleary cleverly cushioned a header across for Le Fondre to stroke the ball in.

The first half continued in competitive fashion but the home team looked more purposeful. Reading were still showing their quality on occasions though and, on another break, they swiftly cut open Crawley to cruelly snatch the lead just before half-time. McCleary advanced down the right, left Mat Sadler in a tangle and on the ground, then delivered a low cross for Noel Hunt to tuck the ball in.

The visitors made a confident start to the second half too and stretched their lead when Noel Hunt was brought down in the penalty area by Joe Walsh. Despite Crawley’s protests, referee Anthony Taylor awarded the penalty, allowing Le Fondre to power in from the spot. “It looked like Joe got the ball,” said Barker. “You can tell with the reaction of the Reading players.”

Reading made sure they closed the game out professionally after that. “It’s easy to panic when you go behind after 14 seconds but we didn’t,” said McDermott. “The reaction from the players was good.”